Mahabharata - Dharma & karuna (piety & dignity)

The last episode of ‘Mahabharata’ helped define Dharma in its true sense.

During the ‘dice game’, it was quite disturbing to see ‘adharma’ winning in the presence of all the great followers of ‘Dharma’ .. Bhishma, Drona, Vidur and Dhrishrastra himself. What disturbed was how so much indignities can be inflicted upon when all such great believers and practitioners of dharma were present.

This was replied by Balram and Krishna in the last episode.

Balram said “ It was Dhrithrashtra’s ‘Dharma ka abhiman’ which prevented him from subjecting indignities on his brothers and wife.

Then Krishna discusses ‘what is Dharma’. He says ‘Dharma is like a tree, of which ‘pran and vachan - vows’ are only its branches. But its root is ‘karuna – dignity & piety’. If there is no dignity-piety, there is no dharma.

In the dice game all the followers of dharma were following their vachan and pran but had forgotten their’ karuna – piety & respect for dignity’. Therefore they allowed ‘adharma’ to win while they were holding on to their hollow dried branches of pran and vachan.

What a powerful thought from such a great philosopher and story teller, Ved vyas, who has such a great understanding of Hindu thought & philosophy.

Only if we had understood this important place of ‘karuna – piety and dignity of humans’ then all those atrocities which is continued in the name of ‘dharma-culture-tradition’ could be avoided.

Remember greatest human virtue is ‘Dignity’ which came much before the religion itself.